SAMUEL PEPYS AND THE STRANGE WRECKING OF THE GLOUCESTER

In 1682, Charles II invited his scandalous younger brother, James, Duke of York, to return from exile and take his rightful place as heir to the throne. To celebrate, the future king set sail in a fleet of eight ships destined for Edinburgh, where he would reunite with his young pregnant wife. Yet disaster struck en route, somewhere off the Norfolk coast. The royal frigate in which he sailed, the Gloucester, sank, causing some 200 sailors and courtiers to perish. The diarist Samuel Pepys had been asked to sail with James but refused the invitation, preferring to travel in one of the other ships. Why? What did he know that others did not? Religious and political tensions were rife in the years leading up to the wreck of the Gloucester. James was a Catholic as was his wife, and there was a large constituency who wished them dead. Plots and conspiracies abounded. The Royal Navy was itself in disarray, badly equipped and poorly organised. Was someone on board to blame for the sinking either from malice or incompetence? This compellingly narrated account draws on a rich cache of historical material including letters, diaries and ships' logs, revealing for the first time the full drama and tragic consequences of a shipwreck that shook Restoration Britain to its core. The mystery may finally be solved in this expert study of the actual circumstances of the shipwreck. With a section of colour plates 11 illustrations in total, notes and bibliography, chapters include the Norfolk coast, Yarmouth, Putney, Deal, Holyrood House, the Barber- Surgeons Hall, Tynemouth, Deptford, Wapping Steps, Faversham, Chartwell, Portsmouth Revisited and more. 304 pages.